I have received tons of questions about the off season so I am going to see if I can knock out a bunch of answers right here, right now.

First off...Hot Stove League Show fires up Wed. Nov 11 on 710 ESPN. I am very excited to announce that we will be going two hours from the get go (in the past we were one hour before the first of the year) and the show will be running on Wednesdays from 6-8. I am looking forward to doing the show ON A SPORTS STATION! Rick Rizzs will be joining me as well as many, many guests for two hours each week of baseball talk that will include you.

So, write it down. Wednesdays at 6:00! How about other dates to keep an eye on? Well here goes...

The Day after the final game of the World Series eligible players can file for free agency. Clubs have exclusive negotiating rights with their free agents in a window that lasts for fifteen days following the end of the World Series. After that, the free agent frenzy can officially begin.

General Manager Meetings will take place in the middle of this from Nov. 9-11 in Chicago. These meetings include the top executives from clubs and it is here where they often begin discussing trades. The meetings are not quite as high profile as the Baseball Winter Meetings which follow a month later.

December 1 is a day to keep an eye on. By that day clubs must offer salary arbitration to their free agents in order to receive draft pick compensation.

The Winter Meetings take place in Indianapolis Dec 7-10. It is here that the most work can get done in the shortest amount of time as everyone is in the same spot at the same time. Entire front offices, agents, managers, scouts and of course media will all converge in Indianapolis where anything can happen at any time. Or not. Sometimes there are deals o'plenty, other times we leave with the words, "We got a lot of good work done, the framework for further conversations is in place, we are in on several guys..." And of course we always hear, "There is no pressure to get anything done here. This is nothing more than an opportunity to meet and talk with everyone as they are all in one place." Regardless, things are going to happen. The Mariners have a roster to fill.

The final day of the meetings is the Rule 5 draft. A huge deadline looms two days later. December 12 is the day teams must offer arbitration to players who are eligible. Those who are not offered arbitration become free agents. Because of the economic situation in baseball right now, some are saying that we could see a record number of non tenders. This could make for a very active December and January, although baseball typically shuts down between Christmas and New Years.

Where can you find lists of potential free agents as well as player contract information? Check out Cot's Baseball Contracts. While not official information it has proven to be very accurate.

What about awards you ask?

November 10 AL Gold Gloves

November 11 NL Gold Gloves

November 12 Silver Sluggers

November 16 AL & NL Rookies of the Year

November 17 AL Cy Young

November 18 AL & NL Managers of the Year

November 19 NL Cy Young

November 23 AL MVP

November 24 NL MVP

Other awards have already been handed out. Of note (but no surprise no doubt) to Mariners fans, the Fielding Bible Awards with Franklin Gutierrez, Ichiro and Jack Wilson picking up the honors for their positions.

Also just announced, the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars team. Phillippe Aumont, Josh Fields and Dustin Ackley will represent the Mariners in the game which takes place Nov 7 and can be seen on the MLB Network as well as MLB.com

Hope this helps. Think I am going to set up the studio at 710 like a war room. The Mariners have a lot of work to do and this could be a very eventful off season.

One Seahawks note or observation before I go. They really need to work on their Belief Systems!